What can happen when you give yourself the time, space and opportunity to learn a new skill?
For Martine, it's been quite a lot.
Having joined our Thursday Diploma in January, our lovely Martine is already taking her jewellery making beyond the classroom. Alongside developing her skills at Jewellers Academy, she's created a jewellery-making space at home, opened her own Etsy shop and started making and selling her own pieces.
And the fab part? She's still studying!
Martine at work in our lovely studio!
Martine's interest in jewellery began while working at an auction house, where she was constantly surrounded by gorgeous antique jewellery pieces.
She found herself imagining what she could create herself, perhaps reworking antique settings or redesigning existing pieces!
At the same time, she felt that she was ready for a new challenge.
After searching online for jewellery-making courses, she discovered Jewellers Academy and our Diploma programme.
"It looked exactly what I was looking for. I could attend the course one day per week and still work part-time alongside it."
Martine’s workspace at home.
When Martine started the course, her hope was simply to develop the skills to make jewellery, perhaps as a hobby or potentially as a business.
With guidance and encouragement from our tutors, her confidence grew week by week, and Martine set up a space at home to continue creating outside of her weekly classes. Between sessions, she began making a few simple pieces to sell.
"Each week I couldn't believe what I had created!"
LEARNING JEWELLERY MAKING IN PERSON
For Martine, the year-long format of the diploma was perfect for learning weekly without causing too much disruption to her work or everyday life.
The diploma covers techniques including:
sawing
soldering
filing
polishing
forming
and stone setting
THE BRIGHTON STUDIO COMMUNITY
One of the things Martine loved most about studying in Brighton was the community that came with learning in person.
For many students, the studio becomes:
a creative home
a supportive community
and somewhere they feel understood
"I could never have imagined back in January that my journey would have developed so quickly. My experience at JAB has been amazing. The tutors are all so kind and extremely professional.”
Fast forward to today, and Martine is already making and selling her own jewellery through her Etsy shop, Princess of Hearts.
We are so proud of her here at Jeweller’s Academy Brighton, and have loved seeing her journey. I mean, just look at all those five-star reviews!
It's an incredible amount of progress in such a short space of time, and a wonderful example of where learning a new skill can take you.
Martine’s Etsy shop, @PrincessOfHeartss
